Life- its seriousness, absurdity and reality

newsandcurrentevents

As you know about the war that is going on in Syria, which has prompted thousands of people to leave their country, in order to survive for their lives. Recently I came across an interview of a Syrian mother who is part of the many refugees stuck in the borders between Serbia and Hungary. These refugees who are on high-rise, are trying to reach Germany to start a new life but are being held back by the authorities in Hungary. “Anyone passing its borders illegally, is to face jail or sent back to their country”, are the orders from the Hungarian police. Consequently, for more than a week, they have been living, literally, in the middle of the road.

Ms. AlSayed, the Syrian mother, says that she has been travelling for 10 days with her 6 year old daughter, Alma, passing through Turkey and Greece. She, along with hundreds of other fugitives have a simple demand that they be allowed to pass through the Hungarian border, from where they can go to Germany where they see a bright future for themselves. Of course, that seems far away from happening.

In the interview, the mother makes an appeal to the authorities that if they (the Hungarian officials) don’t want to allow them to pass through its territory, she is ready to hand over her daughter to them on a condition that, that she will be sent to Germany or any other safer place. She says in a determined tone that for the sake of her child’s safety, she is ready to be separated from her. In her very own words, “Take my kid (pointing to her child) and put her in Germany or any other safer place.” She states that she doesn’t want a peaceful life for herself, as is her right to do so but for her daughter.

After watching her interview, it lead me thinking, “Where has humanity come down to? Since when people who are just like you and me, have had to demand for a life where they can have a guarantee that there isn’t going to be an explosion in the next hour or the next day? Has the world crumbled so much that the assurance of granting a war-free life has become something of an obscure? Where are the authorities now that label themselves as the so-called guardians of human rights?

I want to bring into the discussion now, an occurence that took place last week, in Irving, Texas, the Ahmed-clock incident. For those of you who don’t know about it, it went like this. A 14-year-old boy, Ahmed Mohamed went to school on Monday of the last week to show his teacher his experimental product, which he had made at home. Teacher upon seeing the product mistook it for a bomb. And as a result, the school officials notified the police and Ahmed was taken in to custody. He was interrogated for about one and a half hour before the police were convinced that it was a clock and not a bomb and he was discharged. The incident went viral in the media and many high profile people showed their support to Ahmed. Those prominent people included Mr. Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Mrs. Clinton.

To be honest, I welcome Mr. Obama’s step of addressing the boy and praising him for his experimental product and inviting him to the white house. I also would like to praise Mr. Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and Mrs. Clinton here, who also showed their support to the 14-year-old kid. I think it was much needed for such esteemed people to show their encouragement to the boy and I hope they continue to do so in the future as well.

But I also have some questions here that I want to put forward. Why are we so quiet on a similar situation, wait a minute, calling it a similar situation would not be fair to the 14 millions of innocent kids who are suffering from wars and for years now, in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The war, which is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade now and 5 years since it has started in Syria, millions and millions of children have suffered and who are still suffering to this very day. What is their fault for the miserable life that we have given to them? Sure they had nothing to do with the war, then why are they being tormented, tortured and brutalized every second of every minute and every minute of every hour and every hour of every day?

In the end, I just want to say this, “Lets unite in helping eradicate terrorism from its roots, lets join our hands in helping those millions of children who are living in misery, lets collaborate in helping those refugees who just wants to live in peace and has nothing to do with war, lets together, make a world where living in harmony is not something of an obscure, but a reality.

I couldn’t watch the final of the US OPEN because I live in Dubai and obviously the timings vary between the two countries. To give you an idea, 9pm of Newyork means 1am of Dubai. Obviously I waited until 1 for the match to start and 1 hour more because there was a delay due to the weather. As there was no prospect of the match getting under way soon, I slept. Upon waking up, without doing anything, still in bed, I opened up the tennis.com website on my iPhone to see the result. As the page appeared, my eyes were wide open at seeing the face of Djokovic with the trophy. Obviously as you might know by now, I am a Roger fan. So it hurt me obviously because I had my heart for Federer to win the trophy. But Roger losing was one thing that saddened me but more so was the belief that I had in him to clinch the trophy of a Grand Slam this time. It wasn’t just a belief but my sixth sense that constantly kept telling me that he would surely win this one, about which I have written in my previous blog. I had such a strong gut feeling after his win against Isner that I had already started celebrating way before the quarterfinals has begun. But that wasn’t to be. So this loss has obviously saddened and angered me, so much so that I didn’t feel like talking much that day. I didn’t feel like watching highlights right away, as I knew the result .It was a disappointment, no doubt. So at the end of that day, when the exasperation and sorrow had lessened a bit, I had the courage to watch the highlights. I even watched the presentation trophy afterwards, talk about courage! As I had my eyes and ears fixed to Roger’s reaction and his talk at the ceremony, to be honest it gave me such a comfort that no Roger fan or journalist could have given. His short announcement “ I will see you guys next year” and the way he said it, reassuring us that he was more than ever determined, was more than enough to give me a huge relief. That is why I along with millions of my comrades been following him from years and will continue to do so till the day he says goodbye to the sport.

“Why I see Roger holding that US OPEN trophy once more and this year?”

Hey folks! As some of you may have read my last blog about why it doesn’t matter even if Roger doesn’t win even a single Grand slam anymore. Well, today I want to tell you about my feelings, this gut feeling or whatever you may call it that I want to share with you. Before I reveal my thoughts to you on why he would win this grand slam or on what basis my sixth sense even if there is any, is telling me that, i want to admit that I m not a huge tennis follower as some of you maybe but I have been a big follower of Federer himself. I have been watching him as far back as the Wimbledon 2007 final when I was 13 at the time. I just had a glimpse of him in the headlines, him cheering after winning the final point against Rafael Nadal and ever since I have been closely watching him and I am 21 now! Wow! Time passes by quickly!

So Last night as I was watching his encounter with John Isner, and I don’t know if you had the same feeling or something but I literally shouted “WOW!” and was like “This guy is still the best!” Those were not just words of a fan, being cheered or something but he did mesmerize me by his extraordinary shots. His ever-swift movements on the court and some of his returns specially the one down the line left me baffled. And as I stated earlier I have been watching him closely for 8 years now, and he left such a mark after this match that I cant stop thinking why he shouldn’t win the tournament. This is the first reason why I am so positive about his chances.

Secondly, the way he has been playing throughout the tournament without losing a single set up till now, and similarly the way he played last month in Cincinnati all the way to the final without dropping a set and winning it, is telling me out loud that Roger is going to clinch this in a similar fashion. But to tell you beforehand, I am not sure about him winning all the sets but definitely winning the title.

But how could you say that in the presence of Djokovic? I know, and the Novak factor did pinch me but for a while. I admit that he is the no.1 and he is playing great and is the guy to beat. But when I think of his loss against Roger in the Cincinnati final last month, it senses
me that similar thing is going happen and that is if Roger faces him in the final. Lol if you know what I mean!